She swerved under a low-hanging branch and tripped again. The weight of her bag threw her off balance, sending her tumbling down the hillside into the stream. Skirts soaked, she clambered out of the water, then collapsed, pounding on the ground with her fist. “Bloody hell! Bloody, bloody hell!”
As he drew closer, she clawed a rock free and threw it at him. “Leave me alone! Just let me go! Haven’t you done enough?”
He halted within three strides of her. She reminded him of a snared rabbit—terrified, fighting for its last bit of life. The vision tormented him, pushed him down to his knees. “Evie—”
“Leave me be. I’ll just go away and won’t bother anyone.” She shoved her wet skirts out of the way and leaned to one side, massaging the lower part of her right leg. Desperation filled her eyes and lent a tremor to her voice. “You should know I would never hurt anyone. So, just let me go. All right?”
“I canna let ye go,” he said quietly. “I…”
“What? I suppose you’re going to say you have sworn some sort of oath to the Church to burn all witches? Is that it? Well, I’m not a witch. I told you that.” Her face crumpled as a high-pitched sob escaped her. She angrily swiped at the tears and gasped for breath. “I bloody wish there was such a thing as magic. I’d spell myself back home and be done with this godforsaken time.”
He stared at the ground, letting her rant as long she wished. It was fear making her beg for her life. It ripped through him because he alone had sent her into such a state. When at last she quieted, he lifted his head and pressed a hand to his chest. “I canna let ye go,” he repeated softly. “Because I love ye, Evie.”
She stared at him, tears streaking through the grime on her cheeks. “Are you really that cruel? You would toy with me like that just to con me into going with you so you could throw me into some sort of dungeon? So, you can torture me? Well, stop it!” Another hiccupping sob escaped her. “Haven’t you tortured me enough?”
“I mean it when I say I love ye, my own. Never have I told anyone that I love them. Not ever.” Not even his mother. Yet another regret he would carry to the grave. “And I believe everything ye told me, Evie. I promise, I believe.”
“Well, I don’t believe you.”
Leeriness. Fear. Doubt. It all held her prisoner, poisoning her against him. And it was his fault. He deserved no better. “I should not have left ye locked in yer chambers.” He shifted atop the stones biting into his knees, oblivious to the pain. “Forgive me, Evie, but ye scared me with all ye told me.”
“I’m sure I did.” She scooted back, increasing the distance between them. “I’m still not too keen on it myself.” Still rubbing her leg, she clenched a rock in her other hand, ready to throw it at a moment’s notice. “What caused your sudden change of heart? Convinced you that I told the truth?” She edged back again and winced as she bumped into a tree. “Last I saw of you was a disdainful look and a locked door.”
He lowered himself the rest of the way to the ground. Maybe if he sat, she would be easier. At least she seemed to be calming. “I remembered everything I knew about ye.” He kept his gaze locked with hers, watching for any flicker of renewed trust. “How ye never harmed a soul, but saved many, whether or not ye knew them. Me. Fern. The wee ones. Ye didna hesitate to fight for all our lives.” He leaned forward, willing her to feel his sincerity. “I remembered yer odd words and even stranger tools.” A sad smile tickled his mouth, and he didn’t attempt to stop it. “And last of all, I remembered ye to be the worst liar I believe I have ever met.” He couldn’t bear it any longer. Shifting to all fours, he eased toward her. “But most of all, I realized I didna wish to lose ye. I love ye, Evie. I swear I do.”
“You love me,” she repeated as if to convince herself she heard correctly.
“Aye, m’precious wee hen.” He couldn’t resist a quiet laugh. “Fernie saw it in me, too. As my twin, she sometimes knows me better than I know myself.”
“I want to believe you,” she whispered, still as cautious as a cornered animal.
“Then do.” He held out his hand and waited, not daring to move any closer. Now it was her turn to choose. He prayed she would choose him.
Ever so slow and timid, she reached out with her left hand. The bareness of her fingers sent his heart to the pit of his stomach. “Yer wedding ring.”
She drew back and curled her fist to her chest. “I left it. On the table in my room.” With a shudder that matched the quaking in her voice, she bowed her head. “I didn’t think it right to take it. Thought you probably regretted putting it on my finger.”
He closed the distance between them, pulled her into his arms, and tipped her face up to his. “The one thing I regret is hurting ye. Can ye ever forgive me?”
“You really think you love me?” The fragile need to trust him echoed in her voice, pained him to no end. Fear lingered in her eyes.
“I dinnathinkI love ye,” he said quietly. “IknowI love ye.” He kissed the soft damp curve of first one cheek, then the other. “I need ye, my own. I canna imagine a life without ye at my side.” He kissed her eyelids, her forehead, then the tip of her nose. Before covering her mouth with his, he stared into the gold-rimmed green of her eyes. “Please come back with me, Evie. Please come back and be my wife.”
She didn’t answer. Just clung to him, looking ready to weep.
“I will do better by ye. I swear it,” he added, not too proud to beg.
“I will come back.” She pulled him down for a kiss and held tight with a fierceness unmatched.
Nay. That was a lie. He clutched her just as fiercely. “I love ye,” he whispered against her mouth.
“You better,” she whispered back, her tears flowing over again. “Because I love you, too.”
*
Heaven help her.She had actually said it. With his face framed between her hands, she stared up at him, frustrated that her blasted tears refused to stop. “I thought I loved someone once before,” she said as he dried her cheek with a tender swipe of his thumb. “But compared to how I feel about you, I don’t believe I loved him after all.”
“Perhaps the Fates sent ye back in time because we are such a well-matched pair.” His smile, that powerful dimple that had won her heart the first time he flashed it, made her wish they could stay right here in this woods forever.
